


Thank Mirai

by Naumaxia



Series: Romantic Rivalries [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Engagement, M/M, Secrets, Toddler mirai, Trust, gai babysits, kakashi writes letters to someone, proposal, smart ass four year olds, theyre gonna be so cute and married!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 07:52:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12744162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naumaxia/pseuds/Naumaxia
Summary: Kurenai asks Gai and Kakashi to baby sit for her, and the little innocent bundle of fluff is much smarter than they think. In addition to completely perplexing the both of them about where their relationship might be going, she managed to uncover a secret that Kakashi had been keeping for far too long, and convince Gai to do something he had simply never found the right time to do.





	Thank Mirai

Gai babysits Mirai 

Kakashi looked highly skeptical when he left the house that morning. He knew that Gai was relatively good with children (better than he was at any rate) but did he trust the man with a four year old? Not particularly.   
When Kurenai has first asked him to babysit for her, his first direct thought had been ‘How the heck does she know about Gai?!’ But soon after that was followed by ‘by the end of this I swear she’s gonna have to kill me!’. If he was correct, Mirai Sarutobi was roughly four years old now. Which was sort of okay because both Gai and himself did at least have a father at that age, but due to certain... events, he had pretty much blocked all those memories anyway.  
“It’ll all be fine!” Gai had grinned at him. “Don’t you worry in the slightest!” He nodded but didn’t exactly agree that there was no reason not to be nervous.  
Kurenai dropped Mirai off at about eleven o’clock, leaving rather hurriedly as she had been called up for a mission. Luckily the girl seemed to have no allergies or special conditions attached; Gai took this as a sign that the afternoon would go well.   
“Hmph! This is so boring!” Or maybe not. “My mummy said that she had asked the Hokage to look after me, but you’re just one of the Hokage’s stupid lackeys, not the real Hokage.”  
“Hey hey hey, wait a minute there!” Gai exclaimed to the girl who seemed about to march off in a mini tantrum. “Your mum does know the hokage, he just asked me as his trusted...” he paused, searching for the right word. “Advisor I guess. Anyway he asked me to look after you until he could get back.”  
“B-b-but.” She gazed up at him with the most sorrowful red eyes he had ever seen and in that moment he felt his heart break just a little.  
“Fine, how about I tell you a little secret, hmm? You have to promise not to tell anyone though, Lord Hokage says it’s top secret information” she nodded obediently, and Gai whispered something into her ear. She squealed and giggled.   
“You should get married.” She declared happily.   
“W-what the... whaaaa?” He spluttered. “I d- I don’t t-think...”  
“Well my daddy died before he married mummy... so I think you should whilst you still can.” She smiled again. “Can I look around the house a bit?”  
“Oh, umm... ok.”He said a little dazed. “Just don’t go upstairs, Lord Hokage is in the middle of some important meetings.”  
“Alright!” She scrambled off in the vague direction of the living room. Gai simply say there gazing at the wall.  
“Married...” What the hell!  
After somewhere between one hour and five spent staring at the wall, he heard a loud crash, followed by a cry from the other room. Rushing in (Well, as fast as you can rush in a wheelchair) he found the poor little girl sat with her head in her hands on the hallway floor, a cupboard open that Gai had never seen open before, and several sheets of paper lying around her like dead leaves. The offending object, which he suspected had fallen off the top shelf and hit her in the head, was a small black box, hinges broken from when it hit the floor. He lifted it in one hand, confirming his suspicions that it wasn’t actually that heavy and couldn’t have sustained too much damage, then picked up Mirai and went to place her gently on the kitchen table. He got a cold bag of peas from the fridge for use as a make shift ice pack, and left her with that before going to find the first aid kit. When he got back she whined at him that he had ‘frozen her head off’. He simply took it away and placed a small bandage on her forehead, unnecessary but he had read it often worked on children psychologically to make them feel better, then he placed a quick kiss on top of it. Why? Because it felt like the right thing to do.   
“All better?” He asked and she nodded before yawning. “Nap time now I think.” At first she complained she wasn’t tired, but the minute he picked her up she collapsed in his arms. Smiling he went and placed her on the sofa with an old blanket before heading into the hallway to try tidy up. At first he started simply piling the sheets of paper back into it in any random order, when one word jumped out at him, his own name. Pausing, he scanned across the page until he found the start of it.  
‘Dear, _________’ it said. The name slot was completely blank for some reason. Gai’s eyebrows crinkled in confusion.  
‘I remember the third ninja war like it was yesterday, even now. I thought for certain you died in that war, maybe you really did, but during the combat I’ve only just escaped I saw him again, Obito.” This bit confused Gai even more.  
‘At first I just froze, none of it made sense in the slightest, and despite every Shinobi instinct I had screaming at me that this was fully real and possible, my brain simply refused to acknowledge it. I could feel myself slowly slipping into the darkness, like I was going to waste away on that spot. I always figured that if I was following orochimaru’s or Sasuke’s example then I should have been the one to turn bad, and Obito would follow in Naruto and Jiraiya’s footsteps. Then someone spoke to me, and I realised for the first time that you might not be dead. I fully accepted that maybe you had come back into the light to save me from the dark. It was Gai. And it sort of hurt a little, you know I’ve loved him for about half my life now, but at the same time it felt like someone reaching down and dragging me back to reality. Being fully honest I don’t think I ever deserved someone like him trying to save me. But maybe... if he’s willing to go so far for me... maybe there is something in me worth saving. I don’t really know.  
Kakashi,’  
Gai blinked, now was the time he was supposed to burst into over dramatic tears but somehow he couldn’t. It shook him right to his core. So instead of damaging the paper with tears, he bent over and tried to bundle the rest of the paper back into the box. Every so often he would catch a glimpse of a name he recognised but he tried not to even look. He smiled a little as he realised that he was a prominent feature in a lot of these letters. When he had finally put the last one back he sighed a little and couldn’t help but smile at the messiness of the writing on the last one. He had noticed the dates at the top of all the letters, also noticed the gap in dates over Kakashi’s teenage years. He had promised himself not to look but had figured out the rough pattern of letters. They started when he was young, became more frequent around the time Obito died, then vanished when Rin died. Only to be resumed again about a year later. It was like watching the footsteps of an opponent, even a skilled one could have their next move predicted by their footwork. The last letter also appeared to be the first one. It was so tempting...  
‘Dear ______,  
Well this is dumb! I don’t need this! ‘Write a letter to a person precious to you to help you deal with your loss,’ as if! Like I even have anyone precious anymore, guess this is what I get for having a father who doesn’t follow simple rules. He’s such an idiot. I hate him! I hate him! I HATE HIM!   
I miss him... but that’s irrelevant. Shinobi don’t feel loss, and they don’t cry.   
Well, oh so precious person in my life, goodbye,  
Kakashi.’  
The paper was completely tear stained, although whether that was Kakashi’s tears or Gai’s tears he couldn’t tell. He heard a pair of laughs echo through the hallway and smiled, throwing the box neatly onto the top shelf of the cupboard seeing as he couldn’t reach it from his chair. He closed the door gently and wheeled back into the living room where Mirai was staring up in amazement at the Sixth Hokage.   
“I told you I knew him!” Gai declared as he entered the room. Mirai giggled.   
“He’s more awesome than you!” She laughed.  
“Is not! I have a winning record against him.” Gai pouted a little.  
“Really I thought we were drawing after that incident with the sushi.” Kakashi shrugged but had a little victorious glint in his eye.  
“C’mon, let’s play!” Mirai laughed tugging on Gai’s sleeve as she dragged the two Shinobi around their apartment; playing ninja, drawing with crayons, dressing up in the old style chunin jackets. It was a nice little at to reminisce about the childhood that the two men should have had.   
When Kurenai finally arrived to pick her daughter up, it was almost disappointing. Gai would greatly miss the lively presence in their household.  
“Glad to see they looked after you well!” The woman smiled, gently brushing a finger over the plaster on her daughter’s head.  
“Oh! Oh- umm- that was nothing really- I- I uh- PLEASE FORGIVE ME!!!” Gai spurted our.   
“Oh Sorry,” she laughed. “That really wasn’t supposed to sound sarcastic. I mean it! Thank you both so much.”  
“You’re welcome.” He smiled and assumed his ‘Nice Guy’ pose.   
“Just call if you need us.” Kakashi said a little less exuberantly.   
“Thanks again.” As she waved goodbye, Mirai reached out.   
“Bye bye Mr. Gai, bye bye Mr. Hokage.” She giggled.   
“Goodbye young one!” Gai grinned.  
Once the two ladies had disappeared Kakashi closed the door, and followed Gai back inside, flopping down on the sofa.  
“Mirai... she’s so innocent.” Kakashi murmured.  
“Really? I don’t think so.” Gai said, “she’s quite mature for her age if you ask me.”  
“Didn’t you know me when I was four years old?” Kakashi laughed.  
“I’m not always so sure.” Gai whispered. “Anyway, I’ve been thinking about some of the stuff Mirai told me. It’s such a pity Asuma never lived long enough to meet her, or even marry Kurenai.”  
“What was it she said?” Kakashi queried.  
“That I should marry you whilst I still can.” Then, silence.  
“Wh- b- th- Whaaaa?!” The silver haired Jonin spat out all at once. “But I- and we- hokage- busy- ridiculous- I- no- just- What the hell Gai!?”  
“What?” His rival stared back at him with a face of apparent confusion.  
“What?”   
“I didn’t ask you to marry me.” Gai said rather bluntly.  
“Oh... I... it sounded like-“ the Copy Ninja turned bright red.  
“Did you want me to ask you to marry me?” He asked looking directly into those unreadable grey eyes.   
“I... uh... I just-“  
“Marry me Kakashi.” Those same eyes widened momentarily.   
“Yes.” It was quiet, shy toned, but definite. “Yes.” He smiled sheepishly. “Woah, I can’t- I can’t believe-“ Deciding He was tired of all the stuttering, Gai used the well known book tactic of simply pressing their lips together, and finally shutting Kakashi up.   
“You know what I’m going to say.” Kakashi smiled when they finally pulled apart.   
“I love you too.”   
Later that evening, although the thrill of all that had happened still hadn’t worn off yet. Kakashi’s heart beat faster just thinking the words. He didn’t have a ring, none of it had been preprepared, and he didn’t really want one. Something so materialistic didn’t seem fitting for what he was feeling. As he curled up for the night, he suddenly had a thought.   
“Gai?”  
“Mhm?”   
“How long have you known about that box in the hallway?” He asked.  
“Only today I swear!” Gai exclaimed, mild panic spreading across his face. “It hit Mirai in the head, it wasn’t my fault I swear! How often do you open that thing anyway?!”   
“Hey it’s ok,” kakashi smiled gently kissing his Fiancé on the forehead. The word ‘Fiancé’ still making him feel a little dizzy with shock. “I just went to add a letter to it earlier and found it had been broken.”  
“I’ll get you a new one I swear!” Gai promised, hand on heart. “Although if you don’t mind me asking, why did you write a new one?”   
“As nosy as ever I see.” Kakashi grinned.  
“Oh sorry. It’s ok, I understand you are a fairly private person.” He smiled.  
“Gai,” his face turned serious. “I just agreed to spend the rest of my life with you. You can look.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it over. “I planned to show you that box one day anyway... when the time was right...”  
“Kakashi!” Gai’s eyes welled up with the tears that wouldn’t come earlier.  
“Just read it would you.” He paused. “And try not to laugh.” He blushed red again.  
“I would never laugh at something so honest!” He unfolded the paper and started to read.  
‘Dear ______,  
All my life I’ve been looking for you, trying to find whoever you were, and whenever I got close you would slip through my fingers. I won’t write your name in that slot at the top of the paper (I’d have to rewrite half of these to make sense of them if I did) but I know it now. And you’ve made me realise I don’t have to be afraid of losing you, because you will always be there, even if it’s only as someone who watches over me from another world. Wherever you are, I am. Wherever I am, you are. That’s what you just promised me, that we would spend our whole lives together. I’ll never be able to repay that gift, but I can at least promise to try. I don’t know if I need to write these anymore, probably not, so as a final note I have one thing left to say. Thank you; for saving me, for bringing me back to life, and for loving me when no one else seemed to do.   
Thank you, Kakashi.’

**Author's Note:**

> So, what did you think? I always love comments so... yeah, comment stuff :) also, have a little epilogue.  
> “Mirai is so adorable!”   
> “It was nice to have her over.” Kakashi smiled. “I take it I should tell Kurenai we’re free next time she’s busy.”  
> “Yes! We will teach that child with the power of youth!” Gai declared happily.  
> “On second thoughts maybe not. She probably would rather pass her own morals into her child.” Kakashi laughed.  
> “So we should get our own child!”  
> “Gai! We only just got engaged! One step at a time! Seriously!”  
> “Mhm... ok.”


End file.
